Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’m going to weigh in on a topic that was brought in earlier today by the Member for Yellowknife Centre. We don’t have money for long-term care beds, as we heard today from Hay River, we don’t have money for a nurse in Tsiigehtchic, and we’ve heard today that we don’t have money for a school in Trout Lake, but we do have lots of money to pay out and dole out $1.2 million in bonuses last year in 2011.
My question is to the Minister of Human Resources. Would he agree to and commit to tabling the various criteria that is used to evaluate how bonuses are being paid out by department, by category, by position?
Thank you, Mr. Dolynny. The honourable Minister of Human Resources, Mr. Glen Abernethy.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. That information is on-line. We’re happy to re-provide it to Members.
I appreciate that. I’m going to be looking for my glasses next time for that question. The criteria, which I again hear is on-line, and I’ll definitely make the effort to do so. The concern I have is the fact that in some cases we’ve got departments, like, some of our health authorities are running deficits. In some cases our health authorities aren’t even complying with the financial act by reporting their annual reports on time, yet we’re giving out bonuses in these areas.
Can the Minister indicate to me and the House how it is that we can give out a bonus, when really some of these criteria – basic criteria – are not being met to the public?
I just want to correct my last answer just slightly. Employees’ information, excluded senior management are on-line. I’m not 100 percent sure about deputies’ information, how that is determined. It is by policy, and I can share that with the Member if it’s not on-line.
With respect to individual bonuses and why they may be awarded, financial management would be one category. At the end of the day, we have collective agreements in place, we have agreements with our employees, we have the Public Service Act which outlines bonuses as a possibility. Every deputy is responsible for doing an assessment of their staff, setting performance criteria for an upcoming year and assessing at the end of the year. For those individuals who are eligible for bonuses, they would have to have those assessments done and they would have to be ranked against those criteria to determine whether or not they are eligible for a bonus. Not all employees that are eligible do get bonuses.
I would like to thank the Minister for his response. I’m going to ask the Minister a very forthright question here. If the criteria is such that they meet certain standards for an employer senior bureaucrat and they receive a portion or pro-rata of their bonus, would the Minister agree to looking at basically an all-or-none policy that you have to meet all your criteria, you have to meet everything involved with your employment to receive your full bonus?
In order to get a bonus, an employee would have to be seen as exceeding their expectations. If they don’t exceed their expectations, then they shouldn’t be getting a bonus. It doesn’t matter, it’s not specific to one category or another category. They have to be seen as overall exceeding.
I’m happy to meet with committee to discuss bonuses, how they are awarded, how they are earned, and if any changes are required, we’re happy to consider those with committee.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. Final supplementary, Mr. Dolynny.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It appears that we’re actually moving in the right direction and I appreciate the Minister’s offer, which leads me to my last question. Should the Government Ops standing committee come back to this House and to the Minister with specific revisions, if we’ve done our due diligence with privacy legislation, would the Minister comply with such recommendations?
It is a hypothetical question. I have committed to going to committee. I have committed to sharing our information with them and working with them. If committee has some direction they would like us to follow, we’re absolutely open to discussing that and working with committee on any issue that’s important to them and the people of the Northwest Territories.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. The honourable Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.
